Good news, there is a new ASP.NET control, in the v15.2 release, that allows your end-users to visually build queries! And you can then apply those queries on existing DevExpress controls like the ASP.NET GridView.

Here's a screenshot of the new Query Builder control's UI:

The Query Builder functionality was first introduced as part of our XtraReports' new web report designer. Many of you have requested this as a separate/independent control (and we agree).

Your power users will love this feature as it provides them a visual way to create their own queries.

Query Builder (Preview)

We're introducing the new DevExpress ASP.NET Query Builder control as a preview version in the v15.2 release because it's we're still perfecting it. However, the new ASP.NET Query Builder control has enough of a feature set that we'd love for you to test drive it and give us your feedback.

Features

The DevExpress ASP.NET Query Builder allows your end-users to visually construct SQL queries and return a string containing a SELECT statement. So it contains great features like:

• The database schema is automatically obtained and displayed within the QueryBuilder's UI.
• Ability to visually edit 'WHERE', 'ORDER BY' and 'GROUP BY' query clauses.
• Relationships between tables are automatically resolved based on foreign keys.
• Query results preview.

Register for v15.2 webinar

To see all the new features coming out for the v15.2 release, sign up for the "v15.2: What's New for ASP.NET Developers":

Click here to register

Thanks!

I'm happy to announce the availability of the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers for ASP.NET 5 (MVC 6).

And we want to hear your feedback about our new TagHelpers! So we're making these 7 new TagHelpers available while the ASP.NET 5 framework is being developed.

If you're not familiar with ASP.NET 5, then take a look at the many helpful links from this post.

Preview Version

We're introducing the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers as a preview version because:

1. ASP.NET 5 (MVC 6) has not been released. However, a release candidate is available now.
2. We're still perfecting and improving our TagHelpers.

However, the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers have enough of a feature set that we'd love for you to test drive them and give us your feedback.

What's included?

The following 7 major widgets from our powerful DevExtreme library are available as TagHelpers for ASP.NET 5:

• Grid
• Chart
• Pivot Grid
• Pie Chart
• Range Selector
• Scheduler
• Sparkline

Demos of these widgets are available here.

Getting Started

To get started using the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers, please take a look this getting started guide:

DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers - Getting Started

Then give us your feedback here: Issue Tracker

Why is this awesome?

ASP.NET 5 is shaping up to be a great framework.

And by using the DevExtreme TagHelpers with ASP.NET 5, your end-users will get the amazing DevExtreme User Interface, features, and functionality that they have come to love.

And it will save you several development hours by using our robust tools.

The new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers will help you to deliver great web solutions on the ASP.NET 5 framework.

What is a TagHelper?

TagHelpers are a new feature of ASP.NET 5 (MVC 6) that allows preprocessing of HTML attributes with server side content. As Scott Hanselman demonstrates, TagHelpers provide cleaner code:

TagHelpers also replace the concept of Html Helpers in ASP.NET MVC 6.

Open-Source MIT License

The new DevExtreme ASP.NET 5 TagHelpers are provided on GitHub with an MIT license. The source is open for you to view, fork, submit pull requests, etc.

To use the DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers, you will need a DevExtreme license.

-

Have you tried the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers yet? I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line below.

Thanks!

@mehulharry

The DevExtreme Mobile framework has a ton of enhancements in the v15.2 release. And the release is available now but first, let’s take a closer look at the enhancements:

SPA Framework Performance Improvements

We have significantly improved performance of the DevExtreme SPA framework.

And we have implemented a caching mechanism to speed-up application loading and initialization on subsequent startups.

Click on the following images to see the charts in detail. They display the time in milliseconds spent on a particular operation performed using our SPA framework between versions 15.1 and 15.2, and the performance growth for different platforms.

Visual Studio Integration

A new Cordova Application project template enables you to use all benefits of an Apache Cordova application (capability to build the app for different platforms including Windows 10 and iOS 9) in addition to DevExtreme application features such as designer and view wizards.

This template is based on a standard Blank App (Apache Cordova) template shipped with Visual Studio 2015 and includes DevExtreme project files, Bower configuration file, and a Grunt task used to update DevExtreme libraries.

Of course, building of applications for iOS 9 is also supported by other DevExtreme application templates.

And starting with version 15.2, you can load Phone Gap plug-ins used to build your application from the npm repository. Just add the gap element with the plug in name to the config.xml file and build custom application template.

New Win 10 theme

With the Windows 10 theme, you can now create mobile applications that look native on Windows 10 devices:

Integration with Parse Core library

DevExtreme data layer is ready to be seamlessly used with the Parse cloud data storage. Now you can utilize all the advantages of cloud storage and the Parse Core library in your DevExtreme apps. The Parse Core handles your entire backend so your team can focus on making an engaging user experience. You don't need to worry about databases, performance, or scaling.

For interaction with the Parse Core library, we have implemented the ParseStore class, which supports the universal Store interface accepted within the DevExtreme data layer. It enables you to easily bind data stored in a Parse cloud to DevExtreme widgets.

-

Have you tried the DevExtreme v15.2 release yet? I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line below.

Thanks!

@mehulharry

Come by the DevExpress table at CodeMash 2016 this week. Mark Miller and I will be there and would love to meet you.

Mark will be showing off all the latest CodeRush Roslyn goodies that his team has been cooking up. And, I'll show you all the latest 15.2 release features including our new ASP.NET 5 TagHelpers

CodeMash is a great conference where thousands of developers from many different platforms converge at the Kalahari Resort (and water park).

DevExpress is happy to be a platinum sponsor and have the chance to meet and talk with so many developers in the mid-west region.

Live Session

Come to my talk on Friday at 1:30 pm in the Cypress room. I'll present the following session:

Title: Using a Secure WebAPI Web Service from a Mobile App

Abstract: Learn how to create a WebAPI service and then consume it using a hybrid mobile app (or any client-side framework). This talk will show you what it takes to create a secure WebAPI service on the server-side and what calls are needed to authorize and get the resulting JSON data.

Raffle

And stick around till the end of CodeMash when they do the raffle prizes. We're giving away DevExpress license and you could be a winner.

Are you going to CodeMash 2016? Drop me a line below.

A new release of the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, v16.1, is now available. We've included new features and several bug fixes.

One Year Anniversary

Today marks the one year anniversary since DevExpress released the first version of the updated ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit:

March 2015 - Announcing the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit - v15.1

And it has been one and half years since we took over maintenance (and care) of the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit:

September 2014 - LONG LIVE The Ajax Control Toolkit - Open Source and now maintained by DevExpress

As we continue to fix and improve the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, we would like to encourage more developer interaction with this open-source library. So it's time to make a major move to help the library:

Hello Github, Goodbye CodePlex

The ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit respository has now officially moved from CodePlex to Github.

https://github.com/DevExpress/AjaxControlToolkit/

We chose Github because it is a great community of open-source developers and projects. And because the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit is an open-source project, we would love to have more developers get involved and submit their code.

If you have never used GitHub then take a look at their free great getting started guide: GitHub Bootcamp

Documentation

The documentation has been ported and is now hosted on GitHub as well:

ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit Documentation

Issues

The CodePlex page will now be mostly deactivated with redirect links to GitHub. If you need to report an issue, please use GitHub:

How To Report An Issue

Download v16.1

You can download the latest release here:

Click the download button above and the get the latest bits.

Or use the Nuget package: ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit Nuget package

Or download the installer and/or source from GitHub:

• AjaxControlToolkit.Installer.16.1.0.0.exe
• Source code (zip)
• Source code (tar.gz)

What's New in v16.1:

1. Features and improvements:

All controls

• Item 27943 - Creating a сustom сontrol tutorial
• Item 27968 - Creating a custom localization (with tutorial)

ComboBox

• Item 27952 - New ComboBox selectedIndexChanged event HtmlEditorExtender
• Item 26985 - Paste from MS Word (with cleanup) in HtmlEditorExtender

Rating

• Item 9125 - OnClick event for Rating

2. Bug fixes:

All controls

• Item 27973 - array.indexOf(item,start) not supported < IE9
• Item 27873 - CSS WebResource link can't be properly generated in an inherited control
• Item 27954 - Script duplication when using config bundle

Accordion

• Item 27975 - Accordion Breaks child UpdatePanel with UpdateMode = Conditional

AjaxFileUpload

• Item 27754 - AjaxFileUpload control doesn't work with ASP routing

CalendarExtender

• Item 15017 - CalendarExtender decrements date in "later" time zones
• Item 28005 - Calendar footer text wraps outside popup bounds

Charts

• Item 28003 - Pie chart and Bar chart backcolor
• Item 28017 - LineChart breaks when all values are zero

ComboBox

• Item 25711 - ComboBox issues with tabbing
• Item 27304 - ComboBox NullReferenceException after CheckBox postback with ComboBox inside <% if { } %> in markup
• Item 27480 - ComboBox weird behavior in Firefox
• Item 28012 - Pressing Enter key on selecting item in ComboBox causes postback

CDN

• Item 28025 - Using the CDN over https
• Item 28026 - Fallback when using the CDN

Hosting

• Item 27845 - Load exception in Medium trust hosting

HtmlEditorExtender

• Item 27168 - HtmlEditorExtender Cut, Copy & Paste icons do not always show
• Item 27197 - HtmlEditorExtender - edit text outside generated div
• Item 27206 - HtmlEditorExtender - when creating a link, certain text causes malfunction
• Item 27240 - HtmlEditorExtender loses content after postback in IE9
• Item 27273 - HtmlEditorExtender removes 'br' tag during sanitization
• Item 27281 - HtmlEditorExtender - width attribute disappears
• Item 27299 - HtmlEditorExtender - inner item CSS class disappears
• Item 27987 - JavaScript error when using HtmlEditor in IE11
• Item 27999 - Toolbar action doesn't match instance of HtmlEditorExtender
• Item 28031 - HtmlEditorExtender multiple ampersands sanitizing problem

MaskedEditExtender

• Item 25108 - MaskedEditExtender cannot enter zero dollars
• Item 26847 - MaskedEditExtender unexpected behavior when using separators
• Item 27966 - Value is cleared when focusing MaskedEditExtender
• Item 27969 - MaskedEditExtender autoComplete property typo

ModalPopupExtender

• Item 27971 - Modal Popup incorrect z-index in tab container and update panel
• Item 28021 - Multiple ModalPopupExtenders z-index issue

ReorderList

• Item 9756 - ReorderList error when inserted in scrollable div

Tabs

• Item 27212 - TabContainer forces inline style 'height=100%'
• Item 27972 - TabPanel CSS needs updating for Mozilla FireFox
• Item 27989 - Tabs overlap TabContainer content

Visual Studio toolbox

T326682 - Adding Ajax Control Toolkit to Visual Studio 2015 Causes Issue with Toolbox in IDE

UpdatePanelAnimationExtender

• Item 27979 - UpdatePanelAnimationExtender - null reference at AsyncPostBackTrigger cast
• Item 27993 - UpdatePanelAnimationExtender onUpdating never fired
• Item 27996 - Exception when using unbound UpdatePanelAnimationExtender

ValidatorCalloutExtender

• Item 28018 - AjaxControlToolkit ValidatorCalloutExtender does not work with UnobtrusiveValidation

Documentation:

AJAX Control Toolkit Documentation updated.

Helpful links

Helpful documentation articles are available here:

• Samples/Demos
• Installation Guide
• Uninstall Guide
• Troubleshooting Installer Issues
• Visual Studio IDE support
• Browser support

Feedback

Get the latest ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit v16.1 release and let us know your feedback by reporting it here.

Upgrading from v7.x and below

Please take a look at the 'How to upgrade to v16.1 release' article to see how to migrate your existing ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit projects to the new v16.1 release.

Try DevExpress ASP.NET

We’d like to thank you for installing the DevExpress Edition of the AJAX Control Toolkit and look forward to your feedback as you begin its use.

When we took over the fabulous ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, our goal was to reach those web developers who want to use great web user interface controls for their web projects and DevExpress ASP.NET provides that and much more.

Try the free DevExpress 30 day trial.

Email: mharry@devexpress.com

Twitter: @mehulharry

In the next major release of DevExpress (v16.1), we are dropping support for Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) across all our platforms (ASP.NET, XAF, DevExtreme, etc.).

Microsoft Ends Support for IE8

Back in August 2014, Microsoft announced its plan to end support for older browsers:

After January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates. For example, customers using Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, or Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7 SP1 should migrate to Internet Explorer 11 to continue receiving security updates and technical support. For more details regarding support timelines on Windows and Windows Embedded, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle site. - ieblog

Therefore, since January 2016, IE8 is no longer receiving any updates, including security updates. I’ve don't need to tell you how dangerous this is for your users. Because of these very real concerns, we’ve made the decision to remove explicit support for IE8 and we strongly encourage you to do the same, if you have not already done so.

Are you still supporting IE8? If you still have to for the indefinite future, you can use the v15.2 release, but my advice is to upgrade to the most recent and supported version of Internet Explorer.

Be aware that we are also discussing removing support for IE9 and IE10 in a future version. (For example, IE9 is only supported on Vista SP1 and support for that is being wound down.) Our advice is to migrate to IE11 as soon as is practicable.

Feedback

I would love to hear your feedback on this decision. How will this affect you?

Leave me a comment below or email me directly: mharry@devexpress.com

Thanks!

We're working on a new set of ASP.NET controls that will support Bootstrap. And I would like your help in testing these new controls. More details on that below.

First, let's address your questions:

Why? What problem are you solving?

Our current ASP.NET controls are great but their HTML rendering makes it hard for us to support:

1. Adaptive and mobile-friendly features
2. Frameworks like Bootstrap that provide their own themes

So to solve these main issues, we're going to keep the majority of our current ASP.NET codebase and create new (descendant) controls with new HTML rendering. This approach is great because it gives you a benefit of new controls, new rendering, and a solid codebase that they inherit from.

This effort will take many releases before we have a full suite of controls like our existing ASP.NET controls. But in the first beta release, we'll likely have a Grid control and a few others.

And we want your help in testing these controls. If you're interested and willing, click the link below and we'll register you for a private closed testing once we have a build ready.

Register Now

Why Bootstrap?

Bootstrap is one of many great frameworks out there. And the new ASP.NET controls we're working on will make it easier for us provide support for other frameworks besides Bootstrap. We chose Bootstrap because:

1. It's established), popular, and free
2. It has a good ecosystem of open-source contributors, third-party themes, etc.
3. Microsoft chose Bootstrap for their File->New experience.

Here's a small preview of our new ASP.NET pager control using different Bootstrap themes:

Not all controls nor features

Creating a new line of controls also gives us a fresh start to decide which controls and features are worth it to you. So, our initial goal is to create similar versions of our major controls and features. In fact, in the beta that we would like you test, it will likely only include the new Grid.

Sign Up Today

Click this link to sign-up for the private testing and we'll contact you once the build is ready:

Register Now and Be the First to Get the Preview Build

Thanks!

In the v16.1 release, we're introducing a new vertical grid control!

The new DevExpress ASP.NET Vertical Grid control is based on our popular ASPxGridView control so out-of-the-box you'll get powerful features and functionality.

A vertical grid swaps the layout for rows and columns. So the columns are placed vertically on the left and data for the rows is displayed vertically in the columns area. This type of layout is great for certain types of data. For example, comparing products:

Feature packed

The new DevExpress ASP.NET Vertical Grid control is feature packed:

• Large Database (Server Mode)
• Header Filter (and other filter options)
• Batch Editing and updating
• Categories (allows you to group rows in category rows)
• Conditional Formatting
• Summaries
• Exporting
• Templates
• and more features similar to the DevExpress ASP.NET GridView

WebForms & MVC

And I'm happy to announce that the new Vertical Grid control will be available for both ASP.NET WebForms and MVC platforms in the v16.1 release.

Thanks!

We're introducing a great new DataGrid feature – Banded Column Layout. With this feature, you can organize columns into the logical groups (bands), so that you can easily display and reorder entire column sets.

While a column is banded, all existing column features still work great:

• Column Resizing
• Column Reordering
• Column Fixing
• Column Chooser
• Export

In fact, here's the column chooser in a banded layout:

Banded Column Layout is easy to define and customize. Here's a snippet that shows how the population column from the image above is banded:

This feature is a part of the DevExtreme v16.1 release. Thanks!

Good news, Microsoft just released ASP.NET Core RC2, the second major update to their new ASP.NET Core framework. And I'm happy to say that we've updated our GitHub repo of ASP.NET Core TagHelpers too! You can now use them with the latest release candidate (ASP.NET Core RC2).

Download

To get started, you'll first need to get Microsoft's latest Core release:

1. Download Microsoft's latest RC2 here: ASP.NET Core RC2.

1. Then try the DevExtreme ASP.NET Core TagHelpers with RC2: https://github.com/DevExpress/DevExtreme.AspNet.TagHelpers

2. Or get the Nuget packages for DevExtreme ASP.NET Core TagHelpers: https://www.nuget.org/packages/DevExtreme.AspNet.TagHelpers/

ASP.NET Core is shaping up to be a great framework. And by using the DevExtreme TagHelpers with ASP.NET Core, your end-users will get the amazing DevExtreme User Interface, features, and functionality that they have come to love.

You save several development hours by using our robust tools. The new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers help you to deliver great web solutions on the ASP.NET Core framework.

Getting Started

To get started using the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers, please take a look this getting started guide:

DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers - Getting Started

Then give us your feedback here: Issue Tracker

What's included?

The following 7 major widgets from our powerful DevExtreme library are available as TagHelpers for ASP.NET Core:

• Grid
• Chart
• Pivot Grid
• Pie Chart
• Range Selector
• Scheduler
• Sparkline

Demos of these widgets are available here.

What is a TagHelper?

TagHelpers are a new feature of ASP.NET Core (MVC 6) that allows preprocessing of HTML attributes with server side content. As Scott Hanselman demonstrates, TagHelpers provide cleaner code:

Open-Source MIT License

The new DevExtreme ASP.NET Core TagHelpers are provided on GitHub and Nuget with an MIT license. The source is open for you to view, fork, submit pull requests, etc.

To use the DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers, you will need a DevExtreme license.

Preview Version

We're introducing the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers as a preview version because:

1. ASP.NET Core (MVC 6) has not been released. However, a second release candidate is available now.
2. We're still perfecting and improving our TagHelpers.

However, the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers have enough of a feature set that we'd love for you to test drive them and give us your feedback.

Try the latest bits now

Have you tried the new DevExtreme ASP.NET TagHelpers yet? I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line below.

Thanks!

@mehulharry

Check out the new DevExpress HTML5 TreeMap widget that's coming out in the DevExtreme v16.1 release:

The new TreeMap widget is a client-side JavaScript widget which provides powerful capabilities to display both flat and hierarchical data structures. And the TreeMap widget includes three predefined tiling algorithms:

• Slice And Dice
• Squarified
• Strip
• Or apply your own custom algorithm!

The new TreeMap widget provides several colorization methods of TreeMap tiles, such as discrete colorization, range, and grouped. And the widget provides API methods for drilldown implementation and manipulation of separate tiles.

What do you think about the new TreeMap widget? Drop me a line below, thanks!

In the v16.1 release, the DevExtreme JavaScript Pivot Grid has been enhanced with great enhancements like a field panel, charts integration, and layout improvements.

Field Panel

The field panel displays fields involved in summary calculation and allows to dynamically change report options (filtering conditions and sorting order) directly in the widget:

The field panel provides you the capability to change any field option at runtime using the context menu. You can easily reach this performing the required data calculations within the 'onContextMenuPreparing' event handler. So, you can implement a custom context menu with a collection of summary types, for example, sum, average, minimum, maximum, and etc. Also, you can specify a similar event handler for the DevExtreme Pivot GridFieldChooser widget.

Charts integration

The DevExtreme Pivot Grid widget can handle processing large amounts of data easily. However, it's not easy to visualize large amounts of data. So one way to manage that is to use charts to summarize large amounts of data. And with the v16.1 releaes, the DevExtreme Pivot Grid can easily integrate with a chart to help you process large amounts of data and show a corresponding chart next to it!

Simply pass a chart instance and additional settings for showing multidimensional data to the 'bindChart' method of DevExtreme Pivot Grid.

Layout Enhancements

Besides features mentioned above, the DevExtreme Pivot Grid widget includes some layout improvements. One of them is a tree layout mode designed for hierarchical items in a row header. By default, such items placed in row take too much space on the screen. However, using the new layout helps to optimize this area and use it more effectively.

The other new layout feature is relocatable data field header. Previously, data field headers could be displayed only in columns. Starting with the upcoming release, you can specify whether they are located in columns or rows.

These features are part of the DevExtreme v16.1 release. Thanks!

In the v16.1 release, we've added some great new features to the excellent DevExtreme Scheduler widget which runs completely on the client-side:

1. New Agenda view

You can now create a compact representation of appointments/events with the use of the HTML5 Scheduling widget's Agenda View:

2. New Timeline Month view

Our HTML5 Scheduler now offers a Timeline Month View:

3. Time Zones Support

The DevExpress HTML5-JavaScript Scheduling widget allows you to specify a time zone:

4. Multiple Cell Selection

You can also select multiple cells via the mouse or keyboard and create an appointment based on the selected cells when using our HTML5 Scheduling widget.

These features is a part of the DevExtreme v16.1 release. Thanks!

ASP.NET Spreadsheet - UX Enhancements and UI Performance - (Coming soon in v16.1)

You'll be happy to hear that not only did we improve the performance of the DevExpress ASP.NET Spreadsheet control in the v16.1 release, but we also added some great features too. Let's take a look.

UX Improvements

The DevExpress ASP.NET Spreadsheet now ships with a number of improved UX elements including:

1. Custom header/footer when printing

A new dialog (within the page-setup dialog) gives you the ability to define a custom header and footer before printing your spreadsheet:

2. Mark a copied range using a dotted line

The Spreadsheet control will now use dotted lines when you select a range and copy it to the clipboard. This is a handy feature that you're likely familiar with in Microsoft Excel. It helps you to visualize what items you've just selected.

3. Fill handle

The Spreadsheet control now gives you the ability to use a fill handle to complete data in a series. You can even use it to fill in months and days:

4. Display/hide column and row headers

The Spreadsheet control also let's you hide (or show) the column and row headers.

UI Performance Improvements

Our ASP.NET Spreadsheet has been optimized so you can deliver Office-inspired solutions that are both visually stunning and perform at the highest possible levels. Performance optimizations have been applied across the board, at the server and during client rendering.

Take a look the following chart which shows the 'document load' and 'cell update' operations. You'll see how between v15.2 and v16.1, we've improved performance across all major browsers:

Azure Web Farms support

With this release, both the DevExpress ASP.NET Spreadsheet and Rich Text Edit controls can be used in web applications running on multiple Azure application servers.

What do you think about the Spreadsheet control's new features and performance enhancements? Drop me a line below. Thanks!

Recently, I told you about the enhancements to the excellent DevExpress ASP.NET Spreadsheet control. Today, I'll tell you about our other major 'Microsoft Office' style control, the DevExpress ASP.NET Rich Text Editor. We've added some great new features that you and your end-users will appreciate. Let's take a look.

UX Improvements

The DevExpress ASP.NET Rich Edit now ships with a number of improved UX elements including:

1. Built-in spellchecker

We've extended the capabilities of our ASP.NET Rich Text Editor with spell check support which includes type-as-you-go error detection. End-users can activate the ASP.NET Spell Checker via the integrated context menu or a standard dialog:

And this new feature uses the excellent DevExpress ASP.NET Spell Checker control to provide other benefits like custom dictionaries.

2. Find and Replace functionality

Much like Microsoft Word, the ASP.NET Rich Text Editor's new Find and Replace dialog allows end-users to locate and modify text within an open document. Unlike the browser's built-in "search within a webpage function," the entire document is available for all Find-Replace operations.

3. Predefined character and paragraph styles

To help improve content formatting within the ASP.NET Rich Text Editor, this release includes a new set of predefined styles for paragraphs, characters and tables:

4. Tables support improvements

We've also improved support for tables in this release. First, we've added a bunch of great new styles for tables:

And second, we've improved mouse support with tables. End-users can adjust the table size using the mouse. And they can also drag the cell borders to change the column width or row height. Column sizing can also be done using ruler markers. End-users can also use the keyboard to navigate and select table cells. To navigate through cells, use the arrow keys, or Tab and Tab+Shift. To select cells, use Shift together with the arrow keys.

5. Keyboard support in built-in ribbon

With this release, you can now interact with the DevExpress ASP.NET Ribbon Control (tabs, groups, items) via the keyboard:

New API For Developers

Recently, many customers had interesting scenarios where they needed to interact with the DevExpress ASP.NET Rich Text Editor from the client-side. Good news, we've now exposed client-side API for the DevExpress ASP.NET Rich Text Editor.

This new API allows you to obtain the current state of document elements (such as sections, paragraphs, tables) and perform the appropriate actions by executing commands. The available client side API is exposed through the following properties:

• document - Provides access to structures allowing you to obtain the current information about certain document structural elements (such as sections, active sub-document, styles for characters, paragraphs and tables, and etc).
• selection - Provides access to a set of methods allowing you to position the cursor within a document and to select document content elements.
• commands - Provides access to client commands allowing you to programmatically accomplish virtually any task within a document (such as inserting characters, paragraphs, tables and pictures, changing element formatting, creating numbered lists, etc).

Azure Web Farms support

With this release, both the DevExpress ASP.NET Spreadsheet and Rich Text Edit controls can be used in web applications running on multiple Azure application servers.

What do you think about the DevExpress ASP.NET Rich Text Editor's new features? Drop me a line below. Thanks!

In the v16.1 release, we've added powerful Data Cell features to the DevExpress ASP.NET Grid View control:

1. Cell Bands

The DevExpress ASP.NET Grid View now provides you with a capability to organize grid columns into logical groups (bands). It allows columns to be arranged in multiple rows, and column headers and cells to occupy more than one row.

Bands provide both display and usability benefits. Header bands can be dragged by end-users to reorder columns. This is extremely useful if you need to provide a quick way to rearrange columns while preserving their logical grouping. Note that columns (and bands) are only allowed to move within their parent bands - you cannot move a child column from one parent band to another. This prevents end-users from breaking column grouping logic.

And the Grid View allows you to export grid data with bands to various formats.

2. Cell Merging

The DevExpress ASP.NET Grid View (ASPxGridView) can automatically merge adjacent cells with the same values. By default the cell merging is disabled. Set the SettingsBehavior.AllowCellMerge property to true to allow the grid merging cells; or control the cell merging availability for a particular column by using the GridViewDataColumnSettings.AllowCellMerge property.

3. Cell Focus

The DevExpress ASP.NET GridView's Batch Edit feature is great. And with the v16.1 release, we've made it easier to figure out which cell you're currently focused on:

WebForms & MVC

And I'm happy to announce that the new data cell grid control features will be available for both ASP.NET WebForms and MVC platforms in the v16.1 release.

Keep an eye on this blog as there are more DevExpress ASP.NET GridView features in the v16.1 release.

Thanks!

Great news, we are introducing a new ASP.NET MVC library that provides modern semantic rendering, client-side interactions, and more.

I'm happy to announce the new 'DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers'.

We, at DevExpress, decided to allocate a small team of devs from our ASP.NET and DevExtreme groups. This new team has created a new product that combines the best of both worlds - modern HTML5 widgets from DevExtreme and the versatile tooling of ASP.NET MVC in Visual Studio.

Be sure to sign up for the upcoming webinar to learn more, ask questions, and see how it works: DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers

DevExtreme Wrapped

In essence, we are using the JavaScript widgets from our excellent client-side library called DevExtreme and wrapped them as native ASP.NET MVC extensions. And, yes, that's how we got the very apt name: DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers.

This means that you can use any widget like the Grid, Chart, PivotGrid, and so on, within ASP.NET MVC. So now instead of just writing HTML and JavaScript, you can write using fluent Razor syntax to add a Grid to your ASP.NET MVC Views:

Data binding is a breeze whether you have local data, remote web service, or a server-side database:

You also get the benefits of Visual Studio tooling. For example, here's the file-new experience that you get out-of-the-box in the DevExtreme v16.1 release:

ASP.NET MVC 3, 4, 5, & ASP.NET Core!

We've compiled our assemblies so that these new wrappers are compatible from ASP.NET MVC 3 through ASP.NET MVC 5.

We're also working on providing you compatibility with the new cross-platform, ASP.NET Core. We'll have more news for you on ASP.NET Core support once ASP.NET Core is officially released.

CTP (for now)

In this first release, we are providing the new DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers as a community technology preview (CTP).

This is a quality release and you can start to use it today (and provide us feedback). But we made it a CTP because there are still features that we'd like to add to improve the DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers.

Download via DevExtreme

The new DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers are part of the "DevExtreme Complete" installation (exe-installer only). Once you install the v16.1 DevExtreme release, you'll have the new DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers will be available in your Visual Studio.

You will also find a new project template under the 'Web' category that helps you to get started with using the new wrappers.

We have also included several great demos to help you understand how to use the different wrappers in ASP.NET MVC. You'll find them in the DevExtreme Demos folder, typically, it will be in your public documents folder:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\DevExpress Demos 16.1\DevExtreme\ASP.NET Wrappers (CTP)

What's Included?

The DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers include:

1. All DevExtreme widgets provided as ASP.NET MVC (Html-helper) extensions
2. Light and sematic markup
3. Fluent syntax for option declaration and native ASP.NET MVC experience
4. Tight integration with WebApi to create effective RESTful data services fully compatible with DataGrid remote operations.
5. Project template for Visual Studio 2012, 2013, and 2015
6. Several new technical demos to help you get started
7. New documentation
8. DevExpress' world-class support

Why make another MVC library?

We want to provide our customers with more choices for the web. Different developers have different concerns. Through feedback, we learned that some ASP.NET MVC developers would like us to provide an MVC extensions library that uses modern rendering and client-side interactions.

The current DevExpress ASP.NET MVC Extensions are based on our existing ASP.NET controls. This provides you 50+ extensions with powerful features like a reporting library, spreadsheet, rich edit, and a lot more.

The new DevExtreme MVC Wrappers include about 30+ extensions providing you with rich client-side functionality, lighter semantic markup, and native ASP.NET MVC experience.

Join the webinar

Sign up for the upcoming webinar now: DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers

Are you looking forward to the new DevExtreme MVC Wrappers? Drop me a line below, thanks!

Recently, I presented the "What's new in DevExpress ASP.NET v16.1" webinar to show all the new features, controls, etc. Watch the webinar video here:

Live Q&A

During the live webinar, many viewers asked some great questions about all sorts of things related to DevExpress ASP.NET. Here's the full Q&A which you may find useful too:

General Questions

Q: When v16.1 will be availble to download?
A: We plan to release it in the middle of June. A beta of v16.1 is available now to test and provide feedback on.

Q: When was Beta 2 Released?
A: Monday, June 6th. Check your account to download it: https://www.devexpress.com/ClientCenter/DownloadManager/

ASP.NET Themes & Project Template Questions

Q: When Mehul was covering the themes, he mentioned that certain ones take up more screen space. Is their a comparison grid of the major parameters?
A: No but the mobile friendly themes like Moderno, Material, and iOS have larger paddings than the other themes (in general).

Q: What is the main diference between responsive template and bootstrap template and both include asp identity login?
A: Yes, they both include. As for differences, the responsive template uses DevExpress controls for layout and responsive behavior. While the bootstrap uses, well, bootstrap to do the responsive features.

Q: With Bootstrap being widely accepted, why would you use the DevExpress based Responsive Design instead?
A: We want to offer you choices and it depends on your needs. If you like bootstrap then feel free to use that project template. Otherwise, you can use the DevExpress responsive template.

ASP.NET Core Questions

Q: Does Dev Express v16.1 support ASP.NET Core Framework?
A: We offer ASP.NET Core TagHelpers. Also, check out this upcoming webinar: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1737083611361603332
New ASP.NET MVC Wrappers

ASP.NET GridView Questions

Q: Does Cell merging support text merged at the top of cell like the pivot grid?
A: Not exactly... Cells with the same values are merged vertically. If you need to aggregate by this column, use a regular grouping.

Q: I can see the text merged on grid on the same top position that the next column by default appear on the middle on the cell merged, is possible for the column merged specify top and middle position into cell?
A: Yes, it is possible. Feel free to contact our Support team at Center for additional details.

ASP.NET Spreadsheet Questions

Q: Does the spreadsheet control have multi user support? Similar to excel shared spreadsheet functionality. So 2 people having it open at 1 time and seeing live changes?
A: It is possible to open a single document by several customers in the same time. But, currently, ASPxSpreadsheet doesn't sends one user's updates to another user automatically. Currently it is required to refresh document manually to see other user's changes. We'll consider this feature for a future release.

Q: Does this Spreadsheet control ship with localized function names and function descriptions?
A: Yes, several localization options are available. Please contact our support with your inquiry to get more info.

Q: Is it possible to save the content of the spreadsheet control back to database?
A: Yes, it is possible to do using server-side API. Please check this example: https://www.devexpress.com/issue=T190812

Q: Does Spreadsheet control support editors like comboboxes in the same form that WinForms Spreadsheet does?
A: Not yet :) , but we have data validation that uses them which seems to cover a lot of cases where other controls are needed.

Q: Does the RichEditcControl and the Spreadsheet control have an autoheight or 100% height feature in 16.1?
A: Not exactly, however, it has a full screen mode (can be set / toggled programmatically).

ASP.NET Scheduler Questions

Q: Will we be getting the agenda or gannt view that you have released for WinForms?
A: Not in this release but we will consider it for a future release.

Q: Does ASP.NET Scheduler control support control editors like combobox?
A: For example, refer to the http://demos.devexpress.com/ASPxSchedulerDemos/ViewTypes/DayView.aspx demo and open any app using a context menu.

Q: Does Spreadsheet control provide spell check capability?
A: Not yet.

ASP.NET Upload Control Questions

Q: Any plans to improve the upload control? Better error support or events during uploading.
A: Not in this release. For now, use the first suggestion from the https://www.devexpress.com/kbid=KA18611
Would you also please submit a ticket in our Support Center with a list of features that you'd like to see in the upload control?

ASP.NET RichEdit Questions

Q: Instead of doing spelling inline, is there a button in the ribbon to do complete spell check?
A: We do not have a button in ribbon, but we do have a Client API for it and the dialog in the context menu.

Q: Is the standalone query editor available in both web and win?
A: Yes, Web - http://demos.devexpress.com/ASPxGridViewDemos/DataBinding/QueryBuilderControl.aspx and Win - https://community.devexpress.com/blogs/thinking/archive/2016/05/25/winforms-visual-query-builder-ala-ms-access-coming-soon-in-v16-1.aspx

Q: We use the HTML and Rich Text Editor to allow users to edit dynamically generated documents. Is it possible to lock or prevent editing of certails sections of a document. (I.e. offer letter)
A: Currently, protected sections are supported only in ASPxSpreadsheet. We plan to support this feature in ASPxRichEdit in the future.

Q: Are there plans for edit tracking?
A: Do you mean tracking the changes made in ASPxRichEdit? Not for the near future, at least. Our RichEdit Core does not yet support it https://www.devexpress.com/issue=Q231610

Q: Is there plans for richedit comments?
A: Yes we plan to implement in the future

Q: Thank you! These updates are Awesome!
A: Thank you!

In the v16.1 release, we decided to mark older properties of several of ASP.NET controls as obsolete. And for properties older than couple of years, they're marked explicity as IsError:

... the compiler will treat usage of the obsolete program element as an error. -MSDN

Why?

Over time, some properties of our ASP.NET controls get moved, replaced, or removed. This happens when we introduce a new feature or refactor old code. Usually, we'll add a recommendation in the release notes for you to start using the new property. But let's face it, we don't all read release notes. Sometimes, we just miss the minor details.

All these properties (class members) were set to obsolete long time ago. For example, the DevExpress.Web.ASPxWebControl.RegisterUtilsScript(Page page) method became obsolete in the v10.1 release. So all of these properties produce warnings in user projects since they were deprecated.

Starting with the v16.1 release, they produce errors instead of warnings. Therefore, you should not use them and use the newer properties. Here's the full list of obsolete marked properties: Knowledgebase T395721

No compiler warning

Typically, this is not a problem. However, if you have the following:

1. Web Application Project
2. Reference to an obsolete property in markup

Then you may get a runtime error instead of a compile time error.

For example, if I have an older project that uses the ASPxListBox's LoadingPanelText property, then I can compile it without any errors using the latest v16.1 release:

Run the project in the browser and you get the dreaded yellow screen of death:

Good news, there is a simple way to have Visual Studio detect these obsolete properties and show errors, making it easy for you to update your markup.

Easy Workaround

Since Visual Studio does not compile ASPx page markup in Wep Application-type projects, the error appears only at runtime when page markup is being compiled. This is very inconvenient for upgrading existing web applications. Therefore, we suggest you try a workaround that will force Visual Studio to compile the ASPx markup and display the errors immediately.

Add the following command in the "Post-Build action" box of your project settings:

%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe -v / -p "$(SolutionDir)$(ProjectName)"

Now, you'll be notified of the obselete property and the suggested new property too:

You can find a sample solution, workaround video, and see the full list of obsolete properties here: Knowledgebase T395721

If you have any issues upgrading, please contact our support team and they will help you: DevExpress Support Center

Thanks!

Check out the webinar video for the new DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers:

In the video, you'll learn:

1. What are the DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers.
2. I demonstrate a thorough getting-started experience with the ASP.NET MVC Wrappers, starting with the new Visual Studio project template, adding wrappers to your project, data-binding, customization, events, and templates.
3. What's included with the new DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC wrappers.
4. Why we created the wrappers.
5. Status and future of the wrappers.

I'd love for you to watch the video, try the new DevExtreme ASP.NET MVC Wrappers, and then give us your feedback. You can email me, drop me a comment below, or even tweet me.

Thanks!